McDonald's Hong Kong bags Digital - Food & Beverage win in HKB TEA 2020

This global brand is transforming the quick service restaurant industry with its seamless omni-channel platform.

McDonald’s Hong Kong has received the trophy for Digital - Food & Beverage at the recently concluded HKB Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Hong Kong Business magazine.

Enhanced customer experience is key to staying ahead in the competitive restaurant industry. For McDonald’s Hong Kong, an exceptional customer experience can be best achieved through the use of an omni-channel digital platform which caters to its tech-savvy clients.

McDonald’s omni-channel platform allows it to connect and engage with customers on a new level. For instance, its new mobile app allows users to record their favourite food, making it the first app in Asia to have such a feature. The app also shows the nutritional value of different orders and lets customers indicate special requirements, such as requesting less sauce or less ice.

The McDonald’s App also enables customers to choose their food before arriving at the restaurant to save queuing time. Orders are prepared only upon customers’ arrival at the restaurants, ensuring food quality and freshness. This provides a vastly improved customer convenience, especially during the rush hour.

The brand’s digital push is not limited to producing a streamlined mobile app. McDonald’s also provides Engagement Kiosks and a digital menu board for a hassle-free and personalised dining experience. The Engagement Kiosks at its restaurants provide a stress-free environment for customers to choose their food at their own pace. At the back end, McDonald’s has also adopted cloud technology for social customer relationship management using data analytics and big data to provide personalised service for every customer.

“McDonald’s Hong Kong is committed to offering customers a better dining experience and brand new service concept to its restaurants,” notes Keith Chan, chief financial and technology officer of McDonald’s Hong Kong. “The use of digital technology such as Engagement Kiosks, McDonald’s App, MyVoice App, Digital Menu Board and the Cloud CRM system together with Data Analytics enable McDonald’s Hong Kong to provide an extraordinarily convenient and personalized experience to customers. We connect with our customers on new levels with greater menu offerings and better customer services, whether they visit our restaurants or order through McDelivery,” he adds.

McDonald’s omnichannel push links up information from different business units of the brand in a near real-time fashion. This is crucial because collaboration among business units and the suitable use of technology are critical for a successful customer experience. This increased mobile accessibility provides greater flexibility, empowering every information user in the company to make faster and more holistic decisions for their daily tasks in a fast-paced environment.

“A seamless integration of people, process and technology is needed to deliver an omni-experience for customers in the ever-changing market landscape. The feedback from customers tells us they appreciate the omni-experience that we provide, which further encourages us to excel and go beyond their expectations as we move forward,” Chan says.

McDonald’s success is affirmed by strong customer response. The McD App quickly ranked within top 3 in App store after the launch of the app to public. The number of monthly active users is increasing progressively, and the overall customer satisfaction score has doubled since the launch of Omni-Experience in Hong Kong. The restaurants’ sales also achieved significant uplifts continuously since launch.

The HKB Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Hong Kong Business, was held via video conferencing throughout the month of September.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Gilles Alexandre Salansy, Partner, Accounting and Outsourcing at Mazars Hong Kong; Jason Yau, Partner, Technology and Management Consulting at RSM Hong Kong; Douglas Kwan, Partner, Assurance and Advisory Services at SHINEWING (HK) CPA Limited; Steve Lo, Partner and Asia-Pacific Chief Innovation Officer at Ernst & Young; and Loretta Fong, Partner and Telecommunications Leader at PwC Hong Kong.

If you would like to join the 2021 awards and be acclaimed for your company’s exceptional technological innovations, please email Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected]